Several members of the local Filipino community helped out in the kitchen during a lunch featuring Filipino food Thursday in Whitney Pier. From left were Juanita Rolls, Karen Ann Olat, and Venus Sorizo and her mom Mia Gorman.

WHITNEY PIER — Cape Breton's growing Filipino community was in the spotlight Thursday as a festival continues to celebrate the island's many cultures.

It's the first time the people and culture of the Phillipines have been featured in the Whitney Pier Melting Pot Multicultural Festival, which is happening all this week.

Mia Gorman, who was recently elected president of the Filipino Association of Cape Breton, said Thursday's Filipino lunch at the Polish Village Hall served as a fundraiser for the association as well as a chance to highlight their food and culture at the festival.

"We are inviting everybody to come and try different food from a different culture. We have prepared a lot of Filipino dishes and desserts," she said. "Rice is our basic food and we have dishes like chop suey, which is like a stirfry of veggies, and the other one is adobo, which can be cooked with either chicken or pork or you can mix it together."

Gorman arrived in Cape Breton in June 2005 and resides in North Sydney with her husband, who is a Cape Bretoner, and her daughter Venus, who was able to join her here in 2009. Gorman became a Canadian citizen several years ago.

There are currently more than 100 members of the Filipino Association of Cape Breton, many of whom are working in fast food chains or as caregivers on the island.

Gorman said many workers from the Phillipines first come to the island on work visas and later apply for permanent residency, which then qualifies them to bring their family from the Phillipiines to live with them in Cape Breton.

A small but growing community on the island, Gorman said it's exciting to see more and more people from the Phillipines making their home here.

Several members of the local Filipino community helped out in the kitchen during a lunch featuring Filipino food Thursday in Whitney Pier. From left were Juanita Rolls, Karen Ann Olat, and Venus Sorizo and her mom Mia Gorman.